Anna Maria Island

Rachel and I just got back from Anna Maria Island yesterday, where we spent 6 days with our family there. I'll have some pictures to share soon, but those don't even come close to doing this place justice. My family has gone there for a few years now and it's just a great place to relax and enjoy one another's company. There isn't a whole lot of touristy things to do, but it's better that way in my opinion. Everyday minus the day we arrived was sunny and in the 80s. Most mornings we'd wake up, lounge around for a bit and then the majority of us were off for a run, walk, or swim or in my case usually all 3. Nothing too long or intense, but just getting out and enjoying moving in nice weather. Then it was back to our house a block off the ocean that we rented for the week. It was time for breakfast and then beach time! The beach there is nice, white sand...similar to Clearwater where they used to hold the 70.3 world championships. In all the years we've been going down there I can only think of one where the weather really stunk. This year it was great and the water was nice too...refreshing, but warm enough to stay in it for a while and play in the waves or toss the football around. Usually we'd last a couple of hours and then we'd go make some lunch and chill by the pool at our house most of the afternoon and who knows...maybe have a cocktail or two. Dinner was next after getting cleaned up and man we had some good meals. We grilled out a few nights having ribs, salmon, and burgers. Another night we had spaghetti. All favorites of mine. Most dinners followed with some sort of dessert and then we went to watch the sunset. I wish we could say we had lots of crazy nights, but to be honest we were all pretty tired by night's end and we hit the sack quite early. I hate to say it, but I prefer that these days...same thing goes for when we're home in Michigan. The early to bed, early to rise crew is almost always the more successful crew. If someone tells you otherwise they are fooling themselves. So that's that. I'll share some pictures once we get them downloaded. It's time to really buckle now and get serious for Eagleman and the rest of the races coming up this summer. I feel I've set myself up for a good couple of months. I've trained hard this winter, but my mind and body are still fresh and ready to do the big work that lies ahead. Started today with a solid swim session this morning and then a track workout tonight. Run and ride planned for tommorrow. And the weather is finally getting better. 60s this weekend they say! Let's goooo as my Hampton kids used to say.

Spartacus and training update

Going to start off this blog by sharing a video of the great Spartacus. Anyone who pays attention to cycling know who I'm talking about. This is an inspiring effort that makes you want to ride your bike hard. If it weren't for a tough 16 mile run this morning, I'd head out on the bike for a bit just because this video makes me want to. We have made it to spring break. All teachers know that once you get back from this break, the end of the year goes by quick. We are headed to Anna Marie Island on Wednesday for a few days with my family. We've been there a few times now and it's an awesome place. Beautiful beach and the water is perfect for swimming. I'll be taking it easy while we're there, but I'll still be getting out for some beach runs and open water swims. My new Zoot wetsuit is supposed to be arriving tommorrow so just in time! Training has been going well. My last blog I talked about being sick and it took me a few days to get back into things, but this week I felt completely back to myself and my numbers were back on track. This is always the way it goes, but every time I get sick (usually only once or twice a year...teacher syndrome) I worry about losing fitness. If you were to get sick a lot this could be the case, but when you have a great base of training laid down the extra rest often times ends up being a good thing. Case in point, this past week was my biggest week of the year yet and I crushed it. yesterday and today capped off a tough week and I did a 2:45 trainer session with lots of quality followed by a short t run. Today I ran 16 at an average of about 6:45 pace...started off a little slower than that and finished strong. Nothing too crazy, but at the end of the week I had plus a hilly course it's a good sign for this time of year. I will finally start racing here next month...only a 5k run race, but still. May will then be the official start to the multi-sport season. I can't wait! Here's to some warm weather in a few days! And hopefully when we get back here...i just want to ride outside, that's all I ask:)

Sickness, bball, and old friends

It's been a busy couple of weeks since I last wrote. The week after our jv season ended I was helping our varsity get ready for districts. I played with the kids a bit to help give them a better look. Not sure if it helped at all, but we seemed ready to play against Harbor Springs. We lost by about 10 and they went on the win the district. I really believe our kids can win this district the next few years, but it's going to take a bigger commitment outside of the basketball season...mainly during the summer.

I got quite sick the end of last week. It was likely strep throat, but the doctor wasn't 100% so he treated me as if I had it. I think he was probably right and the antibiotics helped. It still took me a few days to get over it, but I feel back to normal now. Better now than during the summer. It never fails...getting sick once or twice a year. A lot of it has to do with being at school and dealing with kids all the time. It doesn't help all the training suppresses the immune system a bit, but it's part of the process. I tried being smart about things training wise once I felt the sickness coming, but it wasn't soon enough. Some bugs you're just going to get regardless of how cautious you are.

Friday night I made my way down to Detroit to watch the Red Wings beat Edmonton with some friends from high school. It had been a while since we got together and it was a really fun weekend just catching up with everyone and reminiscing about old times. We saw a heckuva good hockey game too!

I think Spring has finally arrived with it being in the mid to high 40s all week and some rain later in the week. i plan on being outside on the bike for the first time this year. I hope it works out as i'm anxious to start putting in some more bike miles.

I wanted to share this article. It's about my good friend Janda Ricci Munn's dad, who passed away on Sunday. He was a very inspiring man.

Some hoops and training

We finished up our basketball season on Friday night with a win. Put us at 18-2 for the year. First time Mancelona has won the league in basketball (even though it was only j.v.) in a LONG time. The kids made some nice improvement as the year went on. I hope they stick with it because a few of them have potential to really be special. Apparently, in the past there has been very little opportunity for the kids to play any time besides during the season. I really hope to change that. The one thing all of these boys have and I was fortunate to have the same thing when I grew up...they know how to win games. We had plenty of close games, but down the stretch they always were able to pull it out. Even Friday we should have been up by a lot more towards the end of the game, but it was close and nothing was for sure. The boys stayed composed, made some key free throws, and took care of business. The varsity is really playing well now and is on that upswing that you want to be in heading into March Madness. I think they are going to surprise some teams and possibly steal a district title. Going to be fun!

With the season coming to end, this will free up some nice time to train. Perfect timing with Spring right around the corner. My body and mind are in a great spot for the end of February. I really have not forced anything this winter...I really just let the fitness come on and was patient. In the past being in an area (VA Beach) there was so much temptation to train above where I was at because you pretty much raced year round and there were always people to push you in training. My numbers are as good if not better right now than they have ever been this time of year so it just goes to show that you can get as fit as you want by yourself anywhere in the world as long as you have a good PLAN. Today had me spending 40 minutes at half ironman pace doing some big gear work and this is the easiest I think it's ever been for me to push around 270 -280 watts. Had some nice swims this week. It's been a big help having Chris push me once or twice a week in the pool. He is slightly faster than me in the water so it's just right. Run wise it was a pretty low key week being that it was a recovery week. Pretty much just logged 30 miles or so at an easy pace. Back to work next week though. It's time to up the ante just a bit more. It won't be long before I'm racing again.

Rachel and I were able to feel our baby for the first time this past week. It seems to be the same time each night and then early in the morning as well. It's amazing and we can't wait to meet that little bugger. Rachel is certainly showing now too. She's about as cute as it gets for a pregnant woman.

Things are picking up a bit on the coaching front. People are starting to prepare for the upcoming triathlon/running season. It's great seeing so many people starting to take a liking to endurance activities. It's such a fun thing to be involved with and the people you meet along the way are some really special people.

2011 Vasa Ski Race 27k/50k Start plus bonus coverage

XC Ski pics and some training

Here are a few pictures from a xc ski race I did a couple of weeks ago. This is one of the biggest races in the midwest and I plan to do this one for a lot of years to come.

We actually got a bit of a thaw this past week so the trails have held up in some places, but others are in rough shape. I may do one more race the first week of march, but it's all dependent on snow. I am ready for Spring and would rather it start warming up. It's bad when I say a thaw and I'm only talking about high 30s/low 40s but when it's been hovering around zero for the past month that really does seem warm. The roads have cleared up quite a bit too so that's been nice on the run front. My paces have gotten a good 15+ sec. per mile quicker because I actually have some traction

Things are starting to come around nicely on the training front. I feel like I have done everything I can this winter to set myself up for a great Spring and therefore a good racing season this summer. I have improved in some key areas and have done so without a tone of volume or intensity. I feel fresh and that's a huge benefit as the real training is about to begin. So many people train there but off during the winter to arrive at Spring fried and ready for a break. You have to be careful as this is a very bad place to be, especially if you plan to be racing at a World Championship long course event in the Fall be it Kona or Las Vegas.

A few key sessions for me included: a main set 2k pull set, with the 1st 500 at about a 1:20 - 1:25 pace, the next 1k alternating a 50 at about :35 - :40 with a 50 at about :40 - :45, and then the last 500 building to max by the last 100 and I think we came in just under 1:15. I was pretty tired at that point so was really just trying to hang on. My friend Chris swam with me. We've been doing a lot of our swim training together this winter and plan to ride a fair amount together this year as well. Chris is an accomplished triathlete who focuses mostly on the Ironman distance. His swimming and cycling and on par with any age grouper in the country. Once he starts nailing the run he's going to be a low to mid 9 hour guy for sure.

My bike sessions this week included one session focusing on threshold, one focusing on steady state or half ironman pace, and the 3rd on VO2 max where I did 2 sets of 6 x 1.5 minutes @ 360 - 370 watts. I am excited to get outside to start riding a bit longer, but I am getting a lot out of my trainer sessions. It's amazing how much work can be done on just 3 x 75-90 minute sessions a week.

Had two key runs this week. The first was a treadmill workout on Wednesday that had me spending a total of 24 minutes at high end tempo. It was a mixture of intervals. Today's run session included 20 minutes worth of hills repeats with a longer warm up and cool down. It's been such a nice addition to my running being able to hit hills on pretty much every single run. It's almost impossible for me not to with where we live. I'm not complaining though. When I get on the flats that same pace feels so much easier now.

So that's just a bit of insight into my week of training. I plan to share some of this every week or two. I know that's something I like to read about when I go to a couple different triathlon sites. The key is recognizing that just because someone does something doesn't mean that training is right for you. It's all about finding the right mix for you and I think I've found that mix. Little tweaks can always be made, but as a whole we have figured out what works best for me from a training perspective.

Lastly, Rachel had an ultrasound on Friday. Everything looks healthy and on par with the time frame they gave us before of early July. It was tough not finding out the sex of the baby. It's funny how some people will say for whatever reason they thing it's a boy or girl. Some people tell us they think we're having a boy for some reason and then others say they think it will be a girl. We truly don't care. We just want a healthy baby.

Some training and racing

Well, the last couple of weeks have really been a lot of fun training. I'm not sure what the difference is, but I think it's because I know we're on the downward slope of winter and I can sense Spring. I think another reason is because I returned to racing last weekend as I did a 20k xc ski race and then yesterday I did a 27k ski race. Even though they are not multi-sport events, it is still a blast getting out there and competing. You still get that same feeling after any sort or race where you put it out there. The thing I really like about the skiing and I've grown to have this outlook in multi-sport races, but I need to do it even more...that is, to just enjoy the event and let all the training I do take over on race day and just do my best. You have almost zero anxiety racing that way and it really is more fun. You don't sweat the small stuff nearly as much and you are just getting after it out there because you can and it feels good to use the fitness you've worked so hard for.

Last weekend I was 11th place and 2nd in my age group. Yesterday I was 18th and 1st, but it was a bigger race with more people. There were competitors from all over the midwest and country for that matter at both races. It's amazing I never really knew how big of a sport this was here until I started looking into when I knew we were moving back up north. I guess when you're a kid and you're involved in all your other sports you just don't think about those other things...especially with xc skiing being predominantly a sport where most of the people racing are 25 years of age or older...similar to triathlon a bit. The guys winning most of the events are 35 - 50 years old. That's encouraging if I stay with it for a while. The thing is I really haven't skiied much...probably once a week most of the winter. The rest has been my typical winter training for triathlon and I'm just able to do decent off that fitness. I have a lot of work to do on my technique on the skiis, but that will come. Engine wise it seems I'm as fit as pretty much anybody I'm racing. I'm learning a lot about what it takes to race well and a BIG part of it is getting out fast as the trail thins down in probably a half of a km to where it's pretty much single file from there on out. You can pass people at times, but it takes a lot of effort. If you can get in that first group chances are you'll be able to hang for a while and end of with a high placing. Yesterday I got stuck in the middle and had to crush myself about half way to bridge back up to the group ahead. It worked, but by that time I was cooked and just content to hang on until the end. It's really a great way to get in some aerobic work with very little pounding. I am past the sorness of the first few times I went out skiing so like today I woke up not sore at all...i guess maybe I didn't go hard enough?! Oh well, good thing with a nice long run on the schedule for this afternoon.

Other than that life has been pretty low key. Teaching has been going well. Rachel has been feeling good. We went to the doctor last Thursday and heard the heart beat again. It was a bit slower than the first time around. He/she must be getting in shape;)

Thanks for reading...will write more soon. Off to church.